Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars was a comedy panel game created and hosted by Vic and Bob. It is sometimes known as, "the quiz of the business we call show". Gameplay Two teams (each consisting of one of the team captains and two guests) competed in each episode. Each episode went in the following order: Main Game The game was played in five rounds. Round 1: True or False Vic and Bob would take in turns asking the panelists one True/False question each. Each correct answer was worth one point. Round 2: Clips Film clips would be shown featuring the hosts, team captains, and scorekeeper. Afterwards there would be a question, and a correct answer awarded one point. Round 3: Impressions This round featured three types of questions: #Vic/Bob would do an impression of a celebrity, and the panelists had to guess who he was imitating. #Vic would sing a song "in the club style", and the panelists had to guess what it was. #A "random light" would pick a panelist at random, and then they had to do an impression of a celebrity. Sometimes, however, they didn't give the name; instead, the other panelists had to guess who it was. Round 4: The Dove From Above Probably the most memorable of the rounds, it would be begin with the panelists cooing to make the Dove come down (the "Dove" was actually a large cardboard animal prop suspended from the ceiling). On the Dove were six categories, which were usually keywords, each in a specific question. If a panelist gave an incorrect answer, Vic would say "UVAVU" while making a silly face. If a panelist chose the lucky category, Vic would say "ERANU" while making another silly face, and the panelist would win a "prize" (always a bizarre and practically useless device). Four to six questions were played in this manner. Round 5: Quickfire Vic and Bob would ask the panelists a series of rapid-fire questions on the buzzer. The round ended with a loud and funny scream (later a random phrase). ---- The team with the highest score received £1 per point to add to their appearance fee, and would play the bonus round. Bonus Round: The Final Challenge The team captain would nominate one of them to play the challenge, which changed almost every week. Success at the challenge would add more money to their appearance fee. Pilot The pilot show differed in several ways: *The teams weren't called A and B; instead they were the Starbirds (represented by a jet aeroplane), and the Helicopters (represented by a helicopter). *The contestants' names on the desks were their forenames, whereas in the series they were their surnames. *The Clips round was called "Commercials", and each team received two questions instead of one. *The Dove from Above was a blue suitcase (referred to as the Bleu Valise), although the rules remained the same. *There was no quickfire round. *The scores weren't told throughout the game; only the final scores were announced. 2009 Reboot The format above is for the original version. The 2009 revival of the show had some differences including: *There were only three rounds; a general round, the Dove from Above round, and the quick-fire round. The first general round usually contained "true or false" questions, but could contain other questions as well, including a regular "Who is Hitler?" question in which the contestants had to identify which celebrity had been disguised as Adolf Hitler. *The Dove from Above had only four categories, meaning that all were exhausted in every show. The rules for "Eranu" and "Uvavu" were still read out (usually with the final -u extended into a reference or comedy phrase), but these phrases were not actually used during the round, and no "hidden special prizes" were ever awarded in spite of Vic saying that they existed and every category of the Dove being used in every show. The phrases, and the references to a special prize, were finally dropped entirely in the last two episodes. *The four categories of the Dove always correspond to classic theme skits: one was always "George's Song", another was always "a song in the club style", and another was always either a spoof video clip or a performance by the "Hartlepool Film Re-enactment Society" in which Vic and Bob used a wendy house and dolls on the end of sticks to play out a skit featuring characters from a well-known film. *Other regular skits integrated into the show included a conversation with kebab van owner "Angelos Epithemiou" (actually comedian Dan Renton Skinner), and an attempt to "cheer up Jack Dee" by playing him a song using drain pipes. *The prize awarded for the final game, rather than being surreal, was instead laughably small: examples included "a cassette of Reggae", and "this wonderful toothpick holder". There was also an occasion where a video of an exotic destination was shown on a screen only for the prize to be able to see the remainder of that video. Series 7 Adjustments For this series which began in July 2010, the following adjustments were made: *Following Matt Lucas's decision to leave the programme, Angelos Epithemiou became the scorekeeper. Angelos' entrance music was Shaggy's "Boombastic"; rather than George Dawes' drum kit, he kept the scores from behind his "Dream Machine", a combination of a DJ station and a pound shop. It still included a miniature electronic drum kit which he used to accompany Vic's "songs in the club style". Angelos always played a short burst of rave music (an excerpt from "Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats 'Rinsed Out Rave' Remix)" by Project Bassline) before announcing the first round's scores, and brought in a plastic bag, the contents of which were revealed between rounds during the show. *There were now four rounds: the opening general round, the "clip round" (which had only one question, opened to both teams, on the presented clip), the Dove from Above and the quick-fire round. The video clips (and the "Hartlepool re-enactments") were removed from the Dove round and replaced by "celebrity questions", in which a question was asked in a video clip by Vic or Bob while dressed up as another celebrity. *"George's Song" – as one of the options on the Dove – was replaced by "Angelos Epithemou's Variety Showcase" in which Angelos performed a short skit, often involving dancing or a parody of a magic show. Spoof magic tricks appeared frequently elsewhere in this series, including a regular routine with a magic box at the beginning of each show (although many of the tricks were obviously done by camera cuts or editing). *Ulrika was introduced by the singing of a spoof song to the melody of "Agadoo". *In at least one round, an unoccupied pair of trousers would "walk" unattended across the studio. This was completely ignored by everyone else. In one episode, this was replaced by a taxidermy Great Dane which quietly drifted up behind one of the contestants' podiums. Final Series Notes Shooting Stars returned for an eighth series on 8 August 2011. It now featured Archie Andrews (not to be confused with the American comic protagonist of the same name), a puppet who walked and "handed" the question to the contestant on the left of Ulrika. Trivia For the BBC Choice run, Team B not only had Ulrika as team captain, but also Johnny Vegas as a permanent panelist. The same thing happened in the first series of the reboot when Angelos Epithemiou was there, before replacing George Dawes the following series. In 2007, Vic Reeves recorded the song Life's A Treat as a single. This is also the theme for Aardman Animation's Shaun the Sheep. Cancellation It was announced by Bob Mortimer on 15 November 2011 that the BBC had cancelled further series of the show. The following day, the BBC confirmed that the show had been axed. YouTube Link Shooting Stars Season TV channel Category:Panel Game Category:Comedy Category:BBC Shows Category:Long-Running Category:1995 premieres Category:1997 endings Category:2002 premieres Category:2002 endings Category:2009 premieres Category:2011 endings